What a pile of...... (Vauxhall Astra SRi 1.8i 16v)

Member Name: mattrichardson

Product:	Vauxhall Astra SRi 1.8i 16v
Date:	14/08/08 (190 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fast off the mark and responsive

Disadvantages: Cheap quality and hard seats

The Astra. It's been about for donkeys and to be honest I don't think the new ones are much better than the old ones. I myself own mk4 VW Golf and I love it. A few months ago I looked at buying a new Astra. I test drove a 1.6 petrol model and was NOT impressed. The main thing that put me off was the apparent lack of quality compared to my Golf and the fact that the steering wheel controls were so badly worn. The demonstrator car I test drove only had a few thousand miles on the clock and it was in a right state! The controls were all in a silver finish, but it had been done on the cheap. White plastic spray painted silver. The silver finish had already started to wear off! I soon decided to keep my beloved Golf.

*Fast forward a few months*

So there I was, sat in traffic chatting to my passenger in my 03 reg Golf when *SMASH*.... I was hit badly from behind. The other car was a 02 reg Clio and that was a clear write off. My Golf just needed a bit of work doing to the back bumper. So while my car is in at the garage being repaired what do I get as a hire car.....? A 08 reg Astra with fewer than 5k on the clock!

First impressions...
The Astra looks very nice, the hire car I was given was a 1.9tdi with all the bells and whistles. Colour coded trim, fog lights, alloy wheels, climate control, i-pod port and even heated leather seats! Great... you would think.

Exterior quality....
The Astra feels like a solid car, only it lacks the quality. Even though the hire car I was given had less than 5000 miles on the clock somebody had already ran a key down one of the doors. The paint job seems to of been done on the cheap as it is a VERY thin layer of paint. When the paint on my Golf was scuffed from the crash you could see it was as thick as pig sh!t. So the apparent thin layer of paint stood out quite a lot on the Astra. Secondly while washing the car before it was returned to the hire company (I had to return it clean otherwise be charged) I noticed the bodywork seems very flimsy. If you press on the bodywork it bends quite easily, especially on the doors - this is not something I am used to! All in all the outside looks nice, but compared to my Golf the finish looks and feels very cheap. I would not expect to find such a great difference given the new Astra is priced in roughly the same price range as a new Golf.

Interior quality....
The inside of the car also looks very nice. This one has a nice black sheen finish rather than the cheap silver finish in the car I test drove. Build quality is a lot better although the dashboard and door panels have a somewhat plastic feeling to them. Controls are also relatively well set out. However I have found a number of problems. The heated leather seats are very uncomfortable.... They're a sports seat design and although I am an athletic build and only a 32" waist when sat in the driver's seat you feel like your bum is being funnelled down to a point. I would expect 'larger' passengers to find this more uncomfortable. I couldn't seem to be able to adjust the steering wheel to a position I felt comfortable with and the lumbar support was pretty useless given the lack of padding on the seats. The seat height adjustment did come in very useful as this is something I'm used to adjusting quite often on my Golf. The CD player is okay and it was nice to have an I-pod port as I'm used to having this in my golf. However the sound quality of the speakers was not very impressive.

I also found the climate control was pretty rubbish. When set to auto it didn't seem to do much and even when setting the temperature to high it didn't make any real effort to heat the car to the set temperature. In the end I set it to be manually controlled. On the plus side I did find the button that electronically folds the wing mirrors in a nice touch.

Driving...
The car is quite nice to drive. Acceleration is VERY responsive and the 6 speed gear box is nice. The cruise control is a very handy feature for both motorway and about town driving as I can never stick to 30mph lol
I found the breaks somewhat over responsive and the clutch was quite heavy/hard to press down. Steering is nice and responsive however I tend to drive like a boy racer and the car does not seem to have as much grip on tight corners as my Golf does.

Other bits....
The boot is a decent size although there does not seem to be much legroom for back seat passengers. It's nice to have a good quality flip key similar to that of my VW... It doesn't have the cheap nasty feel some other flip keys can have and the central locking works as it should.

That's all I have to say really. I know this isn't the greatest review and I've probably missed loads of bits off but I just wanted to share the parts that stick in my mind about this car... sadly more bad than good. It's just a general quick review from somebody who only drove one of these cars for just over a week. All in all it's nice to drive and has some decent features but the poor build quality and passenger comfort let it down drastically! If you want my advice skip this car and buy a VW!

Summary: I'd never buy one

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